Its been a year and I have gotten better and I always seem to challenge myself so progress seems nonexistant. I ride to work with 35-40 lbs of school books and whatnot. It is a 3 mile commute. The way home didn't get easy until about 5 or 6 months I started biking. If you are not use to hills then it is a real pain in the arse to get use to. Especially if you weight a lot, your bike is more than 35 lbs and you are carrying gear on top of that.